glad its rained here

[darren m 1]

just moved my jill and kitts into there new quarters , a 7x5 shed , theyve got the whole floor area .

i though it would be nice and eriee for them , but later today when i checked on them the jill was having a bad time , she looked so lethargic and could hardly lift her head

i thought she was going to croak.

i can only think it is too hot in there for them , god knows what i,m going do now there cage was getting too small for all 12 of them .

i took her in the house let her recover , she was fine , put some frozen pop bottles in and then took out one of the shed windows to let some air in and meshed up the hole , also put a large brolley over the entrance .

its raining now so a little cooler thank god

 

what a worry

 

what do you all do , in the heat of the summer . lets hear your tips please .

 

thanks

[Guest hunter]

i usually leave them in a run on the lawn but i always make sure there is somewhere to get out of the sun and plenty of water

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Here's some food for thought; Ferrets are, basicly, 'Polecats'. We don't hear of a heat wave exterminating wild polecats. In fact, we don't hear of polecats doing a lot of the things inflicted on ferrets.

 

Now, when ever I have a question about ferrets, I like to think back to their natural bretheran. That's why I feed them what a polecat would eat. And here ~ armchair threorising, for sure. I've never actually got round to doing this, but ..... ~ is what I've always figured:

 

Polecats don't die out in the heat of summer because they aren't confined to the sorts of places we put ferrets. Polecats, in the heat of the most scorching days, f*ck off down holes. Beneath the earth.

 

Watch any 'Survival' programme about the shit that lives and thrives on the Serrengetti. Hunting Dogs to Warthogs. They all get down holes when it's hot up top. The sun can only bake the lands crust - and anything exposed up there. But any depth of earth brings coolness. That's where the polecats get to. Thus I've always wondered about the worth of digging out a sub terrain chamber for ferrets kept out in the enviroment. Somewhere at least a foot beneath the surface and with a small entrance. Bettcha they'd be comfortable in there

[ferret15 0]

hi like above they have a run under a tree with the frozen pop bottles then i put them away at night when there most active and the air is cooler i also feed them when i put them away to stop flys etc if you dont have a run at the moment how about water trays pop bottles and an electric fan if you hose down the shed from the out side it will take longer for it to get hot as well and damp towells in the run are sometimes niceand cool if they dont like it they wont sit on /in it

[blando 0]

those little sheds get very stuffy, it helps to given them some air by eather having a secoundry mesh door so you can leave the main door open, you could also mesh the window, and i have a pipe leading ouside to a mesh run full of soil for them to dig in, that sort of cools them down i think as they only start digging and lieing on the mud when its hot. but i lost one of my jills in the heat befoure i made these changes.

[doddsy1970 9]

Watch any 'Survival' programme about the shit that lives and thrives on the Serrengetti. Hunting Dogs to Warthogs. They all get down holes when it's hot up top. The sun can only bake the lands crust - and anything exposed up there. But any depth of earth brings coolness. That's where the polecats get to. Thus I've always wondered about the worth of digging out a sub terrain chamber for ferrets kept out in the enviroment. Somewhere at least a foot beneath the surface and with a small entrance. Bettcha they'd be comfortable in there

 

 

Ditch, I looked in to and thought very carefully about putting an underground system in my court but came to the conclusion that it would be impractical and unhygienic and impossible to maintain because it would have to be made out of either clay or plastic pipe and there would be puddles of stale water, uneaten food etc etc. Shame really I think it would be th dogs.

[Guest ARTEMIS]

Here's some food for thought; Ferrets are, basicly, 'Polecats'. We don't hear of a heat wave exterminating wild polecats. In fact, we don't hear of polecats doing a lot of the things inflicted on ferrets.

 

Now, when ever I have a question about ferrets, I like to think back to their natural bretheran. That's why I feed them what a polecat would eat. And here ~ armchair threorising, for sure. I've never actually got round to doing this, but ..... ~ is what I've always figured:

 

Polecats don't die out in the heat of summer because they aren't confined to the sorts of places we put ferrets. Polecats, in the heat of the most scorching days, f*ck off down holes. Beneath the earth.

 

Watch any 'Survival' programme about the shit that lives and thrives on the Serrengetti. Hunting Dogs to Warthogs. They all get down holes when it's hot up top. The sun can only bake the lands crust - and anything exposed up there. But any depth of earth brings coolness. That's where the polecats get to. Thus I've always wondered about the worth of digging out a sub terrain chamber for ferrets kept out in the enviroment. Somewhere at least a foot beneath the surface and with a small entrance. Bettcha they'd be comfortable in there

 

I think you know everything - have you thought about changing your username to "The Great Oracle"?

 

If only we had an Anderson Shelter - might be a good place to keep ferrets in the summer...... I think I'd move into it too!

 

Still, perhaps I'll do the irish thing, and dig a hole and bury the hutch for now....(will leave a little skylight and air vents of course)!

[blando 0]

Watch any 'Survival' programme about the shit that lives and thrives on the Serrengetti. Hunting Dogs to Warthogs. They all get down holes when it's hot up top. The sun can only bake the lands crust - and anything exposed up there. But any depth of earth brings coolness. That's where the polecats get to. Thus I've always wondered about the worth of digging out a sub terrain chamber for ferrets kept out in the enviroment. Somewhere at least a foot beneath the surface and with a small entrance. Bettcha they'd be comfortable in there

 

 

Ditch, I looked in to and thought very carefully about putting an underground system in my court but came to the conclusion that it would be impractical and unhygienic and impossible to maintain because it would have to be made out of either clay or plastic pipe and there would be puddles of stale water, uneaten food etc etc. Shame really I think it would be th dogs.

 

 

i cant see it being to bad mayby if there was a slab/door on top and it was dug out every 6 mounths, for a change of bedding (mayby some old rags) but it would be a lot of work! would have to block it up during the ferreting season as you would never be able to intise the ferrets you want to take with you out of there because not only will it be cool in warm days it would be warmer than outside on cold days.

Edited June 13, 2007 by blando

[Kay 3,709]

For gods sake people with these huge pipe networks take them out or split them into sections, ferrets willcrawl in these networks & i have a friend who lost a dozon ferrets who had all crawled into a large section of pipe and suffercated due to heat

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Perhaps I'll do the irish thing, and dig a hole and bury the hutch for now.

 

 

That made me laugh out loud! Cheeky!

 

 

I don't know, peeps ..... Look; Fact is the weather's getting hotter, right? So looking after ye ferrets is going to become stickyer, like it or not. Frozen bottles of water? Better than nothing the moment ye find ye ferret already has heat stroke ~ as long as ye have one in the freezer. But how the hell are ye going to keep up a supply of those, all day long. All summer long? That's simply not practical.

 

I always used an electric fan myself ~ so my ferrets didn't get heat stroke in the first place! But, today Leitrim took half the Atlantic in about two hours! Ye can't risk switching ye fan on and going off to do eight hours at the mill. Electricity and water always gets exciting. And freak downpours on the hottest and sunnyest days are another feature of life we'll all just have to adapt to as the planet goes tits up.

 

Now; We have people building elaborate Courts. We have a man laying entire, concrete floors and restructuring an entire, huge ruined shed. You people seem willing to stop at virtually Nothing for ye ferrets. Good!

 

So how about digging a square hole. Lining it out with bricks or blocks, like a sewer inspection chamber? Leave the base earthen. Pop a standard 'Manhole' cover on top. Then maybe lay a few sacks of earth ~ such as the spoil from that very hole? ~ on top of the cover, to keep that heat out. Pipe in. Pipe out. Make dry hay available to the ferrets and I'll bettcha they'll line it just as they require. The lowest layer of hay will absorb any dampness and then rot into the earth. And they'll lay fresh hay over that as they feel they require it - just like Polecats in the wild, see?

 

Being governed by the size of a manhole cover, it's going to be about a yard square, isn't it? So how about make it that deep too? Down there it'll be like a veritable cool box on the most appallingly hot days. Christ! If I wasn't living in a cottage with 18" thick walls that keep me cool on days like that? I think I'd do 'The Irish Thing' and dig a f*cking great hole for myself and the Dogs to retreat into!

 

Now go on; Kick that around. See what Real faults ye can find with it. Cos I'm telling ye now; This weather isn't just going to go away. Things are changing out there. Ye have to make provisions. Rewrite the old books

[stubby 175]

In reply to the bit started by ditch, bout the underground system,

 

well In my outside court which was an old concrete walled cold frame next to the anderson shelter the earth inside had been dug out to around 3ft below ground level, I then layed sheets of wire mesh inc up the sides, layed a maze of pipework then covered the lot in soil and turfed it, with the idea that as well as immitating a warren, it would be cool in the summer months, well it looked the dog's danglies, and my two jills loved it, they even dug a few tunnels of there own, but no worries the wire mesh would stop them going to far,

 

then a few weeks later we loaned a hob from johnnyboy28 who we named BBB (buster big bollocks) and of course he started digging too, he would dissapear down his tunnel and stay there all day, so the 3rd day after getting him, he goes down and it starts raining, which made me worry that the soil might collapse when wet, so tried enticing him out,,,,,no luck

next idea, put one of my jills down, then call her back, he will follow surely,,,,,no luck

this is when I started to panick a little, so I start digging, and the big bugger had dug to the wire mesh and pulled it back and carried on tunneling under the neighbours fence!!!!!!!!!!

anyway got them both out and closed off the outside court, which Is why Ive now re built the outside bit with a solid concrete base

and buster has fathered 14 kits and thanks to johnny is now a permant member of the family

 

quote;If only we had an Anderson Shelter - might be a good place to keep ferrets in the summer...... I think I'd move into it too!

 

it still gets hot in there too

[Guest ARTEMIS]

;If only we had an Anderson Shelter - might be a good place to keep ferrets in the summer...... I think I'd move into it too!

 

it still gets hot in there too

 

Well, that's a shame - I thought that'd work..... But thanks so much for telling me it doesn't before I've started looking for the corrugated iron, or digging the hole!

[Madcowz 0]

Luckily for us/the ferrets, the court is under a huge and very old oak tree. So in the summer it is shaded by the leaves and in winter when it is cooler and darker, it will get more light.

 

Good old mother nature.

 

 

/Mad

[johnnyboy28 1]

I soak a sheet in water and place that over the hutch when its really hot

That keeps them cool :thumbs-up: